In reply to Indesign ALL CAPS button: what OT-Features does it apply? What is "desired behavior"?:
I have "fixed" Garamond Premier, for good money, but I don't pretend I could have made it from scratch (although I can make certain things that Slimbach would probably have trouble making). And I believe that project required more experience and expertise than trying to fix something (not everything) in a given book design.
I think much more things can go wrong when you tweak a tool than when you tweak a product.
the biggest challenge in type design today -- my point of view -- would be making up a font family that isn't a rip-off of exiting fonts.
I might agree, but it depends on your definition of "rip-off". Deriving inspiration, even from "living" fonts I find unavoidable, and desirable. Carter and Lew certainly do that. And sometimes we do see high invention, like with Legato and Fenland.
Most of your tools haven't been tested before being rushed into the marketplace.
If that "you" is plural, I agree (especially when it comes to free and/or libre fonts). But I myself do enough testing that my clients (which are mostly custom, not retail) end up long-term happy. And when it comes to retail, "rush" is not part of my vocabulary; Nour&Patria was started in 2000, and I'm finally ready to publish it in 2013 (although partly because I only found the right partner this year).
How can anyone design a (purported) text font without seeing how it prints on several kinds of papers?
Experience helps. And -as in any field- realizing the impossibility (which I equate to undesirability) of Perfection certainly helps too.
As for the religion of money, it's not for me either; if it were I would not be in type design. But it does help make my family happier, and that makes me happy.
hhp